Sitting out by my pool this morning with a yellow pad I developed an acronym “CAN FAM” that I hope will help make me more productive at part time blogging. Let’s face it, we all have a passion that threatens to keep us away from the family. We owe it to them to manage our time and passions so there is plenty left for them! These are my solutions. The bigger picture here is for you as a blogger (or workaholic in some other field) to create a plan that recognizes the high value your family has in your world. Remember that nothing of value is easy. Even stuff that seems easy like weight loss through a Slimquick Cleanse takes perseverance and committment. Check out my CAN criteria:
CAN – This one is old. You can monitor my CAN progress each month at my online diary.
C – Circulation. 3 guest blogs in Feb. I will be (if they accept them) writing quality guest blog content for three people:
- Justin Germino – The “Dragon Blogger” (used to be someone I mentored and now he mentors me)
- Michelle Stein – “It Might be Love” (an Adsense Genius and bloggy friend) -and-
- Sylvie Dixie – “FuelMyBlog“ (Great people at a great networking place of value on the web)
A – Analytics. PFTFF 20K visits in Feb.
N – Net. Record $ as it is earned. Goal: $300 in Feb.
Now here’s the new stuff to make sure my family is squared away and cared for as I blog part time.
F – Final deadlines for posts. Sent to me via Google Calendar reminders. A regular schedule and if I miss a deadline, oh well. That blog will not be updated until the next scheduled post.
A – Absolute Hours Record. My limit for my blogging is now a firm 15/hours a week. If the compensation becomes more than $500/month I may add to this limit.
M – Make it up to them. This is the most fun part. I will require myself to spend money from my PayPal card on my wife and kids once a week to re-invest in the wonderful people who make this possible for me.
12 Comments
That’s very nice of you to use the money from your PayPal on your wife and kids. Definitely good to spend time with your family still. 15/hours a week isn’t too bad for part-time blogging. Only a little more than 2 hours a day which is very doable while maintaining a life with your family.
It’s tough to blog only part-time. I to am dealing with the same problem as it’s hard to find time to blog and still find time for my family.
@Funny Freak: Yes, the trouble is I have been accustomed to spending way more tha 15 a week! Let’s see if I can do it!
@pays to live green: It is fun to buy them stuff with my blog money.
As someone who is just starting a blog, I’m planning on blogging and promoting it one day a week, so let’s see how this schedule works out.
I love how you work everything out! Spending your blog money on treats for your family is a double win! Hey, maybe you can use it to buy those Disney tickets!
@Josh: That’s not very much time but if you set clear goals to do on that day you could be successful.
@Jessica The Rock Chick: Aw thanks Jess. I’m getting really into time management and prioritizing lately.
Right now I wish I could buy something nice for my wife and kids with my blogging money, but it seems that all my blogging money goes towards is helping pay the bills and recover from my deficit.
Great post.
Damien,
I love how you have your blogging goals and objectives for February so well planned and set out – now I personally need to learn from your example and do the same.
I have great admiration for those bloggers with family responsibilities who are able to manage their time with sufficient effectiveness so as to hold down full time employment, manage family responsibilities and maintain a part time blog at the same time.
Personally, I find it enough of a battle even as a single person to find the ten to fifteen hours or so I need to maintain my blog, so I really take my hat off to those who do it who also have families.
@Andrew: This was mostly a family based goal post, I keep a more accurate rendering of my plan in action at my personal blog: http://www.damienriley.com/
Thanks for noticing the blog work and planning I do. Behind the scenes stuff can make or break a dream!
I’m looking forward to the guest post, but no hurry of course :)
I think you have an awesome idea for setting a time limit for blogging – this is one of the hardest things I deal with, as usually either my blogging causes me to ignore my family or the family causes me to ignore my blogs.
I just filed my taxes tonight, I was really surprised at how much I made last year – I’m hoping this year I may actually reach what I was making at my full-time job before deciding to stay home with the kiddos and freelance. Now having added it all up and and where the most revenue is coming from I know what to focus on and what needs a little work yet :)
Thank you. I’ve been working on the guest post, it’s coming right along. That’s awesome you are making good money. My fear of making too much is that I will rely on it too much. Last month was nearly $300 so obviously nowhere near my teaching salary. For me it’s an issue of paying quality attention to my wife and kids. When I’m stressing on the blogs too much, nobody in my house wins! Congrats on finding a balance, I think it will always be a struggle for me.
One Trackback
[...] blogging, and interacting with people through my blogs. My new goal is to blog 12 Hours a week (was 15 hours a week). To make a doable schedule I pulled out the concept of how to make acronyms and came up with the [...]